Classic Cartier

By Robert Milburn

In November, the Denver Art Museum will feature some 270 Cartier pieces culled from its extensive 1,450 piece collection of historical works, ranging from jewelry, watches, clocks, and other assorted objects. The exhibit will be called “Brilliant: Cartier in the 20th Century,” and feature pieces from 1900 to 1975.

The Denver exhibition is the 26th of its kind since 1983, when Cartier began acquiring its historically significant pieces from the marketplace. The Denver show follows a more expansive “Style and History” exhibit that was recently held at the Grand Palais museum in Paris.

The Paris exhibit had more than 200,000 visitors and featured some 670 historic works, with 500 pieces from Cartier’s own collection and the rest from institutions and private collectors. The pieces were displayed along with 200 design drawings, plaster casts, advertising photographs, dresses, and coats to give onlookers context for the works – and transporting them back in time to their initial inspiration.

For some insights as to what Cartier is bringing to Denver, we called up Paul Boutros, a watch collector who sat on Penta’s recent panel “The Call of Collecting.” Boutros saw the Grand Palais exhibit before it closed.

The Paris exhibit included pieces that adorned Russian Czars, British royalty, Hollywood stars, and Indian maharajahs. Boutros in particular was struck by how Cartier managed to make, say, a 1928 piece out of 2,930 diamonds, for the Maharaja of Patiala in India, without the work somehow appearing gaudy. That is an astute observation as to what is the defining essence that underlies all Cartier-designed jewelry. Bright, stunning, extravagant – but never in bad taste. Perhaps, for this reason, King Edward VII declared in 1902, “Cartier is the king of jewelers and the jeweler of kings.”

One prominent display in Paris naturally revolved around King Edward VIII’s wife, Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, who played an important role in developing Cartier’s colorful design style. Her special orders pushed the brand’s use of jewel combinations – like pairing amethyst, turquoise and coral – while also solidifying the iconic panther as Cartier’s emblem. The panther first appeared in one of the Duchess’ special orders from 1948: a three dimensional panther crouches atop a deep blue and spherical emerald, as if audaciously mounted on the world itself.

Cartier

An alligator brooch of yellow diamonds and emeralds made by Cartier for Mexican actress Maria Felix.

Boutros was struck by Cartier’s aesthetics, crafted out of a passion for symmetry and innovation. “They created the first men’s wristwatch, the Santos, a design which has withstood the test of time,” he says. In the 1900s, men traditionally wore pocket watches to check the time. But Louis Cartier’s friend, the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont, complained he could not check the time while flying. So, in 1904, Cartier created the Santos wristwatch. The iconic brand still produces the Santos today, with its popular pronounced numeral hour markings and square shape.

Also striking Boutros’s fancy were Cartier’s 16 mystery clocks on display. In 1912, Cartier designed it’s first “mystery clock.” With the help of illusionist and father of modern magic, Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, the clock’s hands float between transparent rock crystal with the guts and gears seemingly invisible. “This would absolutely be a crown jewel in my home,” Boutros said. Each is different, but Boutros loved a diamond embellished clock with its “incredibly detailed” dragon-shaped hands. For more on Cartier’s recent interpretations of the “mystery” watch, check out Penta’s “Overcoming That Cartier Angst,” which also chronicles how the brand, with such a feminine mystique, produces handsome men’s watches.

Boutros also loved the “flamboyant and unapologetic-style” of the animal-inspired creations made for Maria Félix. The story: The firebrand Mexican actress first entered a Cartier boutique in 1925 with at least one baby crocodile in tow. Cartier made a brooch of two crocodiles, one set with 1,023 fancy yellow diamonds and the other of 1,060 emeralds, and still sells this Felix homage today. Boutros’s favorite Cartier piece was a 1968 Serpent necklace, with 2,473 diamonds at 178.21 carats and set in platinum and white gold. Its joints allow for full mobility, meaning it rests ever so gently on the neck, and the snake’s underbelly is enameled in a colorful, red, green and black, grid pattern.

The Cartier exhibition at the Denver Art Museum later this year will show many of the same pieces, including Maria Félix’s crocodile brooch. Tickets go on sale in the summer.

About Penta

Written with Barron’s wit and often contrarian perspective, Penta provides the affluent with advice on how to navigate the world of wealth management, how to make savvy acquisitions ranging from vintage watches to second homes, and how to smartly manage family dynamics.

Richard C. Morais, Penta’s editor, was Forbes magazine’s longest serving foreign correspondent, has won multiple Business Journalist Of The Year Awards, and is the author of two novels: The Hundred-Foot Journey and Buddhaland, Brooklyn. Robert Milburn is Penta’s reporter, both online and for the quarterly magazine. He reviews everything from family office regulations to obscure jazz recordings.